Mickey had instantly turned fiercely pasty, was completely frozen and squeezing Ian's hand exceptionally hard.
"Mick, what is it?" Ian asked totally disturbed at his boyfriend's behavior.
"Ian?" a familiar voice called or his name. The redhead looked up to see his employee, Devon standing there in front of him.
"What are you doing here?" Devon asked with a puzzled face.
"I'm here on a date with my boy…" but his words were cutoff.
"Mick, hey." Devon greeted.
The oldest boy didn't say a word. He held on to his boyfriend's hand as tight as he could. A perplexed and envious look came over Ian's face as he heard Devon call HIS Mickey, Mick.
"Mick, how do you know him?" Ian asked with animosity in his tone.
The older boy looked his gorgeous boyfriend in his eyes then whispered only to him "This is Dawson."
"Hold the fuck up" Ian screeched, placing his freehand on his face covering his mouth. "This is fucking Dawson?" he spat pointing at the boy in front of him.
The youngest boy stood there not really knowing what was going on in front of him.
"DEVON FUCK-ING DAWSON!" the redhead screamed absolutely outraged.
The envy that Ian felt at first was instantly replaced with complete fury. His skin felt like it was on fire, he subconsciously balled up a fist with his freehand and had the most frightening look on his face.
"What's going on?" Devon asked, not putting any of it together.
"LEAVE! NOW!" Ian growled.
"Excuse me?" the younger boy snapped stepping into Ian's personal space.
"You fucking heard me!" the slightly taller boy barked letting go of his boyfriend's hand.
"I don't have to do shit you say. We ain't at fucking work! I will do whatever the fuck I want." Devon smart mouthed. "lemme get this straight. Mick, this is who you are "supposedly" in love with?" the brown haired boy spat throwing up air quotes as he was laughing cynically.
"You're fucking right and if you got any damn sense you will fucking leave him alone!" Ian hissed through clenched teeth.
"Or what Mr. Gallagher?" Devon asked maliciously while pushing and slightly spitting in Ian's face.
Before the younger boy even knew what was happening, the redhead hit him with a right jab, aleft one and then he uppercut the shorter boy, knocking him against a car door.
Devon felt himself being lifted off the ground and realized the older boy was choking him with one hand. He was gasping for air trying to get the redhead to release him, but he realized the grip was too tight and he felt himself starting to black out.
The stiffness and tension left Mickey's body as he watched his boyfriend with disbelief. He didn't know the redhead was that strong. Apart of him was glad that he had never gotten on his bad side. 'Clearly, Ian Gallagher has some hands' he thought to himself. Being the cocky prick that he is and with the little air he could get, Devon started to laugh out of fear.
In one swift movement, Ian body slammed the boy on to the hood of the car with one arm and he pressed it harshly against his throat.
"You think it's funny don't you? You think it's funny to treat someone who loves you like shit?" Ian hissed as he pushed down harder on the boy's throat.
The younger guy thought his boss was going to crush his esophagus at this point. The older boy looked at Devon with utter disgust then said with venom in his voice "I don't want to see or hear from you again. Don't speak, look or even think about Mickey EVER again you hear me? Consider this a fucking warning! Next time, You will leave the streets in a Coroner's van. You Fucking hear me?
Then Ian punched him again, completely knocking him unconscious and causing him to slide off the hood of the car and on to the parking lot.
"FUCK!" the redhead flinched in pain realizing that he had busted his knuckles wide open.
Mickey walked up to his boyfriend grabbing his uninjured hand and lead him to their car. While sitting at a stop light Mickey looked over at his adorable, but wounded lover and said "I love you so much, Ian Gallagher."
The younger boy smiled widely at his boyfriend staring doe-eyed at him. "Can I just say now that was a southside fucking beat down?"
Both boys busted out in laughter as they made their way home. Once they got to the house the older boy dragged his lover to the bathroom so he could patch up his busted knuckles.
"Damn Gallagher how'd you learn to throw a fucking punch like that? That was definitely not the shit we did in Southside." his boyfriend asked excitedly.
"Well when I was in high school, I was in ROTC, but I left all that behind when I moved to the Northside" the redhead replied. "FUCK! That shit burns" the younger boy yelped as his boyfriend poured rubbing alcohol on to his open wounds.
"Nobody told you to play fucking Rocky, now hold still. Otherwise it won't get cleaned and it will hurt worse" Mickey replied, trying to get his beau to comply.
The taller boy gained enough composure to allow his companion to finish cleaning his lacerations and wrap his hand up in a bandage. The brunette turned around to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and grabbed some pain killers from the top shelf. "Here take these. you are going to need em" Mickey said while handing Ian the bottle.
The redhead took the bottle and headed back into their bedroom to lay down. Once the older boy finished cleaning himself, he went and laid next to him. Ian grabbed the water off his nightstand and took the medicine like his boyfriend insisted. Once he got it down, he turned on the tv, and propped a couple pillows behind him so he kind of sat up in the bed. Mickey crawled in the bed next to him and laid his entire upper body on his lover's muscular chest and began to caress his rock hard abs.
The two quietly watched tv, laughing occasionally and just enjoying each other's company. The older boy looked up at his gorgeous man and said "I'll marry you as long as I'm not the only one wearing a ring."
The younger boy's trance was interrupted when he thought he heard Mickey say he would marry him. 'It must be these meds making me hear stuff' he thought to himself.
"Wait what?" Ian asked, sitting straight up and staring at his companion with a puzzled face.
"I said I will marry you. Just as long as I'm not the only one wearing a ring" his lover repeated.
Ian jumped up all of a sudden out of excitement completely speechless because he didn't know Mickey heard him confess his proposal.
Once Mickey realized that Ian heard him, a huge smile came across his face and he stood up in front of the taller boy.
"So that's a fucking yes? You will marry me? " Ian asked nervously with tears welling up in his vulnerable yet excited eyes.
The brunette nodded and pulled his lover into a hug, kissing his cheek and then his lips. Ian had realized at that moment that he couldn't be any happier because now this beautiful blue eyed man that he fell in love with was now going to be his FOREVER.
The thought of his dreams coming true overwhelmed the redhead and he began to softly sob into his lover's neck. Mickey could feel the tears rolling down his shoulder, so he gently pulled away looking at his now beet red fiancé's face. He didn't even have to ask why he was crying because he already knew. Seeing this also overwhelmed Mickey and he began to cry because as well. He had always felt like he never deserved to be loved. That was until he met his redhead.
The two men wiped each other's tear stricken faces and laid back down on their bed to resume what they were doing. Only this time they interlocked their fingers, every so often stealing glances at each other.
"You want to watch some cartoons?" Ian asked casually.
"I do" Mickey replied smiling.
The younger boy began to softly chuckle at the thought of Mandy calling him her brother-n-law a couple weeks before and now it was going to be true.
"What's so funny?" his fiancé questioned because he could seeing his lover was thinking.
"Nothing. I just like the sound of that" he replied, kissing his life partner on his temple and grinned.
"Is that all of it babe?" Christy asked putting the last of the boxes into her car.
"Yep." Mandy replied, smiling.
"How did you get word out and all your furniture sold in just three days?" the blond asked curiously.
"Come on Chris. This IS the Southside" Mandy answered sarcastically. The look on the brunettes face was enough to cause Christy to surrender.
"Ok! Ok!" the blond girl protested, throwing her hands up.
"Lemme go drop off my keys at the front office. I will meet you at home" Mandy said, kissing her girlfriend.
"Ok! See you at home" the blond said excitedly. Mandy took one last look around the apartment before she got into her car. "Well Southside I am going to miss you! But I will come back to visit." The brunette hummed to her self and got into her car. She drove to the front office where she was greeted by one of the apartment staff.
"Hi Donna here is my apartment keys." Mandy said smiling, handing the older woman her old at of keys.
"Mandy I never thought I would see the day you would leave the Southside" the older woman replied.
"Yeah I know, but Mickey doesn't live in Southside anymore and there is nothing keeping me here so it's time for me to go." Mandy pouted.
"I understand. Family is family. Plus your brother seems to be doing better for himself. Keep your chin up and we hope you at least come back to visit." Donna said. She was always giving Mandy advise on things.
"You might see me around" Mandy smirked. "but until then, I gotta get outta here."
"Bye Mands!" Donna cried, pulling the brunette into a tight embrace.
"Bye Donna!" Mandy said, pulling herself away from the mother figure and getting into her car.
Once Mandy reached her new home, she parked and quickly got all of the remaining items out of her car.
"Honey I'm home!" she yelled playfully as she swung the condo door open. Christy came from their bedroom laughing at her girlfriend being adorable. "I can't believe we are actually doing this" Mandy replied still in shock.
"I know!" the blond responded.
"Just wait til Ian and my brother find out. We aren't going to hear the end of it!" the dark haired girl stated.
"Tell me about it! Especially from Mick. I can hear his raggedy ass now talking shit" Christy spoke shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
"Hey! He is still my brother!" Mandy laughed. "You're gonna have to get used to it. He's technically like your brother n law now" Mandy declared smugly.
"Oh, stop it already" Christy replied tackling her girlfriend to the couch and laughing.
Ian's phone started to ring as he was driving home from work. The redhead lifted off his back pocket, pulling it out, thinking it was probably Mick telling him to pick up some food on the way home. He was surprised to see that it was his Senior Manager, Kasey calling him. Kasey hardly ever called him after he had gone home for the day, so he knew something wasn't right.
"Hello? Kasey? What's going on?" he asked concerned.
"Well Ian, I just saw Devon. he looked terrible." she said, all in one breath.
"Oh really?" the redhead replied smiling to himself.
"It was weird! He had on a hat, some sunglasses, a hoodie covering the hat. He was carrying a duffle bag and was walking extremely fast to his desk. I got a call so I had to step in my office. As soon as I got off the phone I walked over to his desk and he had cleared out everything."
"Did he say anything?" the boy responded.
"Uh yeah that he was resigning and moving back to New York. I told him to talk to you and all of a sudden he started shaking. I asked him what was wrong and he brushed me off and said he had to go. He rushed out of the door before I could catch him, and then I saw the oddest thing" the blond informed.
"What did you see?" Ian asked genuinely curious.
"When he sped out of the parking lot I saw that his car was really beat up. It had dents everywhere like he had been in a car accident."
"Hmm that's crazy" the redhead replied seeming like he had nothing to do with it. "So he's gone for good huh?"
"Yeah I guess so" she responded seeming bothered about it.
"What a shame" Ian said trying to act like he wasn't ecstatic about any of it.
"Ok well if you like you can start interviewing people to fill his position."
"I'm on it boss. Enjoy your holiday ok?" Kasey finished.
"You do the same Kase and thanks for calling me." Ian smiled.
"No problem sir. See you Monday."
"Bye Kase!"
"Bye Ian!"
The freckled face boy couldn't keep the smile off his face as he was driving home. He decided to make a little detour to the jewelry store. It had been a week since Mickey had told him that he would marry him so he figured it was time to make it official especially since Devon Dawson was now out the picture for good. He remembered there was a jewelry store four blocks from his apartment so he drove over there just to see what they had.
As he walked in, he was greeted by a beautiful brunette woman standing behind a jewelry counter.
"Hello sir I'm Janet what can I do you for today?" she asked, with her hands cupped into each other.
The redhead smiled widely. "I am looking for two engagement rings please." he said excitedly.
"Yes sir!" the young lady replied, seeming very impressed. She led him to the engagement ring section and pulled out a few of those really weird plastic finger models. "So which one of these diamonds do you think your fiancé would like?" she asked pleasantly, pointing to several different cut shaped jewels below the security glass. "Is she the high maintenance type or simple?"
The redhead chuckled to himself because he knew he was going to have to blindside this young girl with what gender his fiancé was.
"Um Janet…" he started, leaning in to whisper it to her, unsure how she was going to take the news. "My fiancé is not a woman."
The look of surprise and a quick sigh came from the petite woman. "Oh! Oh my goodness I am so sorry sir" she replied apologetically.
"It's ok Janet you didn't know and I don't exactly come off that way. And by the way please call me Ian" he said in a tone only she could hear.
"Sure Ian." She smiled "Come with me. I can show you the bands that we have available." The brunette politely directed him to a section with a variety of different types of bands. "So what kind of guy is he? Is he sassy, a bad boy?" she asked, getting the feel of Ians personality.
The boy just laughed and showed her a picture of Mickey he had on his phone he managed to take while his fiancé was asleep with Linc on his chest.
"Oh my! He is good looking!" she replied giving kudos, admiring the older boy's sleeping face. "He seems like the bad boy type with a soft edge, so I would suggest this one" she answered pointing to a black and titanium striped band.
She pulled it out of its case and shined it up before she handed it to him for him to look at. "You can try it on if you like" She said.
After a few minutes of "oooh's" and "awww's" he knew it was perfect. "I LOVE IT!" he squealed.
The ring was titanium with a black checkered stripe going around the middle of the band and a small round diamond in the middle of the black stripe. "Is there any ones that look like it? He made me promise that if he married me that I would have to wear an engagement ring too" the redhead replied giggling and shaking his head.
"Sure there's this one. Only it doesn't have a diamond in it." She said, showing it to him.
"PERFECT!" he yelped in elation. "He's soo going to be the girl and get the diamond since I was the one who proposed" he said chuckling and smiling to the sales woman.
"I think that's a great idea and it would be pretty funny too since he's not that type is he?" Janet asked, leaning over the counter, handing him the ring without the diamond.
"Nope not at all" he replied smiling while trying on his rings.
The redhead knew his lover's ring size because the older boy had tried on his class ring a long time ago. They both wrote the same size.
"I'll take em!" he exclaimed, completely delighted at the beautiful rings in front of him.
Once Ian had the rings paid for and packaged, up he jumped in his car, drove to the nearest pizza place to pick up Mickey's favorite and while it was being made, he walked across the street to the liquor store. He figured that he was going to do something super romantic for his beau since he didn't get to propose with a ring in hand.
When he got home he found his companion passed out with Linc curled up to his side. It was the most adorable thing he had ever seen and he couldn't wait to make the older man his husband. He quietly set up the table in the dining room with a few candles. He put a few pizza slices on the gourmet glass plates he bought with his first big paycheck and covered them with plate covers. He pulled out his fancy odd shaped glasses and poured Crown Royal in them. He only brought out the glass dishes when it was a special occasion and to him this was it.
He placed the black felt ring box with Mickey's ring in it under the plate cover in between two slices of pizza so that when he pulled off the cover he wouldn't miss it. Once everything was set up, he crept into their closet, changed shirts, jumped into some dark denim jeans, his black leather low top sneakers and snuck into the bathroom to apply a layer of deodorant and a couple sprays of cologne.
He gently sat on the bed next to his sleeping beau and kissed him on the forehead. The soft contact woke the older boy out his sleep as if he had been just dreaming about his redhead. "Hey Mick" the younger boy whispered, rubbing his lover's arm, "You hungry?"
"Yeah I am fucking starving!" the older boy replied, jumping up nearly scaring the sleeping kitten.
"Than come with me" the redhead replied, grabbing his companion's head and dragging his half asleep lover that was rubbing his eyes, into the dining room.
The freckled face boy made sure that his fiancé sat in the correct chair. "What's for dinner?" the brunette asked with his hand already on the plate cover.
"Why don't you open it and see for yourself" Ian answered smugly.
Mickey just shrugged his shoulders and opened it like it was nothing. What he saw caught him completely off guard.
"Ian? what the hell is this?" the pale boy asked picking up the small box.
"Open it" he replied grinning.
The bright icy blue eyes of his companion lit up when he saw the beautifully carved unique ring. The older boy mentally knew he was engaged, but seeing the ring made it all so real. The pizza now seemed like the last thing on his mind as he removed the band from the box.
Mickey was overwhelmed with emotion as he stared at the remarkable ring as he placed on his finger. He never felt this loved or appreciated before. He finally caught his breath. "Remember our deal? Now where is it?" he questioned sarcastically.
The taller boy got up from his chair, nodded, laughed and pulled his left hand out his jean pocket exposing the stunning band on his left ring finger. He stuck his hand out as his soul mate stuck out his and placed it on top of the big freckled hand in front of him.
"Wait what the fuck? Why does mine have a diamond and yours doesn't?" the older boy asked.
"You said as long as I wore one you would wear it. We made a deal remember?" the redhead said crossing his arms looking down at his lover.
The brunette huffed because he knew he wasn't going to win this battle so he just stuffed a piece of pizza in his mouth.
"That's what I thought. now eat" Ian replied chuckling at his fiancé who just flashed him the middle finger.
After all the pizza was gone and half of the Crown had been drank, the redhead looked over at the older boy so he could start a conversation.
"Mick, wanna go costume shopping for Chris' party tomorrow?" Ian asked his fiancé.
"Shit, it's already Halloween?" Mickey asked, wondering where the time had went.
"Uh, yeah!" Ian snarked. "You have an idea what you are going to be?" he asked, curiously playing with the black and silver ring on his finger.
"I don't fucking know yet I will figure that shit out when we get to the store" his boyfriend replied, now grouchy.
"Take your fucking meds Mick. You getting fucking pissy when you don't" he said, sounding like a parent.
The taller boy picked up the medicine bottle off his boyfriend's nightstand along with a bottle of water and handed it to him. Mickey took the items and did as he was told so that they could leave.